Tonight's show is about employers who seize the current economic crisis as an opportunity to pit working people against each other and undermine longstanding union rights. 

First, we speak with Karyl Feliciano, a Fred Meyer employee, and Jenny Reed, United Food and Commercial Worker (UFCW) union business representative, on large-scale contract negotiations with multiple employers, including Safeway, Albertsons, and Fred Meyer.  The Hillsboro Fred Meyer recently called the cops on Jenny Reed and two other union representatives just for talking to union members at the grocery store.

A union representing fourteen part-time recycling specialists at Portland State University has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Chancellor George Pernsteiner and the Oregon State Board of Higher Education.
They say the University refused to include the recyclers in bargaining negotiations over terms of a new contract for the four thousand five-hundred classified employees at the university.
The recyclers, who voted unanimously to join SEIU Local 503, are believed to be the first group of undergraduate students to join a union in Oregon.

Listen to the November 2nd, 2009 airing of the KBOO Evening News in its entirety! ^__^

Thirty years ago, labor historian Bob Bussel worked on the organizing drive at J.P. Stevens, a violently anti-union Southern textile manufacturer--a campaign the inspired the movie Norma Rae. Besides giving actress Sally Field a career-defining role, the J.P Stevens drive gave rise to the "corporate campaign" strategy which became a standard weapon in the union arsenal. Bob Bussel talks with Peter Shapiro about the continuing significance of the J.P. Stevens drive and shares memories of the late Crystal Lee Sutton, who was the prototype for Sally Field's character.

New Census numbers have revealed that the number of people living in poverty has increased to over thirteen percent, which is the highest poverty rate in twelve years.
KBOO’s Rebecca Nay spoke with Alice O’Connor, who is a History Professor at UC Santa Barbara.
 

A seventy Year Old grandmother and a Nineteen year Exemplary Employee was fired by Fred Meyer on June 29th.  The reason behind the firing was a twelve dollar cash handling mistake.
Kboo’s Crystal Leighty spoke with Larry Hall from The Grocery Workers Union.
 

Although the unemployment rate dropped slightly this month in Oregon, the rate of home foreclosures continues to increase.  Oregon had the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation this summer.  Now the state is down to about tenth place, but job seekers take little comfort in this fact.  To address the continued crisis in employment, the National Association of Black veterans will offer a different kind of Employment Expo in the Portland Convention Center this Monday.  Marty Peterson is one of the organizers of the event:
 

Last night in Salem, renowned labor rights activist Dolores Huerta spoke to a packed crowd about the issues facing immigrants and labor organizers today. Here’s a clip from that talk:

Host Ed Goldberg interviews writer and journalist Timothy Egan about his most recent book, "The Big Burn," a true tale of the massive forest fire that changed America.